Posts
Named a most anticipated book of 2025 by Vulture | The Guardian | Financial Times | The Observer | The Times (London) | Literary Hub
"A
picture of postwar England unlike any other . . . A highly original
memoir that will provoke, amuse, beguile―and endure." ―Antony Quinn, Financial Times
"Homework
is wonderful Geoff-Dyer writing, which we've all learned to crave;
something to delight and to move us and to edify us on every page. I
find him an irresistible writer." ―Richard Ford
A portrait of a young boy, who keeps passing exams―and of a changing England in the 1960s and 1970s.
The
only child of a sheet-metal worker and a dinner lady who worked at the
canteen of the local school, Geoff Dyer grew up in a world shaped by
memories of the Depression and the Second World War. But far from being a
story of hardship overcome, this loving memoir is a celebration of
opportunities afforded by the postwar settlement, of which the author
was an unconscious beneficiary. The crux comes at the age of eleven with
the exam that decided the future of generations of British schoolkids:
secondary modern or the transformative possibilities of grammar school?
One of the lucky winners, Dyer goes to grammar school, where he develops
a love of literature (and beer and prog rock).
Mapping a path
from primary school through the tribulations of teenage sport,
gig-going, romantic fumblings, fights (well, getting punched in the
face), and other misadventures with comic affection, Homework takes
us to the threshold of university, where Dyer gets the first
intimations that a short geographical journey―just forty miles―might
extend to the length of a life.
Recalling an eroded but strangely resilient England, Homework traces, in perfectly phrased and hilarious detail, roots that extend into the deep foundations of class society.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment